Revolutionary War Patriot, Continental Congressman. He was a staunch early supporter of Independence from Great Britain, and served as a clerk to the Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson. In this capacity he actually served as the scribe for the draft of the Declaration of Independence that was signed by the various members of the 2nd Continental Congress, and that document is now on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Before the war, he was disowned by his Friends' meeting for attending too much to his cock fighting to the detriment of his creditors. He also served as Colonel of the Philadelphia Associators Pennsylvania Militia Regiment (the "Shirt Battalion"), and fought with them at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. He later served as Secretary of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and aided in sending into exile in 1777 twenty suspected Tories (17 of them Quakers) and in the treason trial in absentia for Gen. Benedict Arnold. He was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress, serving in 1780. He co-founded the Society of Free Quakers for members of the church who had been disowned by their Friends' meetings for taking up arms in support of the Revolution. Originally interred in the Free Quaker Burial Ground, near 5th Street between Spruce and Locust Streets in Philadelphia, his remains were moved to the Wetherills Cemetery in Audubon, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1905.
Revolutionary War Patriot, Continental Congressman. He was a staunch early supporter of Independence from Great Britain, and served as a clerk to the Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson. In this capacity he actually served as the scribe for the draft of the Declaration of Independence that was signed by the various members of the 2nd Continental Congress, and that document is now on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Before the war, he was disowned by his Friends' meeting for attending too much to his cock fighting to the detriment of his creditors. He also served as Colonel of the Philadelphia Associators Pennsylvania Militia Regiment (the "Shirt Battalion"), and fought with them at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. He later served as Secretary of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and aided in sending into exile in 1777 twenty suspected Tories (17 of them Quakers) and in the treason trial in absentia for Gen. Benedict Arnold. He was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress, serving in 1780. He co-founded the Society of Free Quakers for members of the church who had been disowned by their Friends' meetings for taking up arms in support of the Revolution. Originally interred in the Free Quaker Burial Ground, near 5th Street between Spruce and Locust Streets in Philadelphia, his remains were moved to the Wetherills Cemetery in Audubon, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1905.
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